What hitch are you using? What tow vehicle? I had similar evidence of hitching stress in that area when I was using an equalizer hitch with 1000 lb bars. In my case the problem went away with a hitch change. Also tell us how much WD you are applying.

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-Rich-

"If the women don't find you handsome, they should at least find you handy." - Red Green

Yes we need to know what hitch you are using, how much load is being transferred, and what TV you have.

Without that I would ask if the trailer has ever dropped off the TV or dropped from a block under the jack to a hard surface?

Hitch is a Propride, 1200 lb bars, 6" on WD jacks. TV 2015 Silverado 5.3L crew cab. You can see a small picture of the trailer and TV in my avatar pic. Have not taken the rig to the Cat Scale yet. To set it up, I used top of tire to the bottom of wheel well measurements. Can't remember the numbers.

Very possible, if stabilizer jacks were misused for leveling purposes, or if stabilizer jacks were left down when tongue jack was raised, thus causing stabilizer jacks to support the entire weight of the tongue as well.

I've got a similar area on my front hatch. Our 2005 Safari has squared corners, so the issue manifests as a straightline crack about 3/8" long on both lower corners. I'll get around to drilling & riveting the end of the crack soon. We've had the trailer about a year and haven't noticed the cracks change after 6,000 miles of travel. The issue was noticed on quite a few of our year model (30' bunkhouse with a queen upfront), and talked about 7-8 years ago.

The cause seems to have been pinned on a flexing frame in excess of what the shell could stand, and that the door exacerbated the problem. It's clear from your pictures that the stresses are still there, and they do react to a curved hatch as well. Yours is buckling instead of cracking, but the result is the same. FWIW, I'm a nut on the stabilizer jacks and baby them throughout our stay at a campground, adjusting for tanks filling, etc. This old girl lived a rough life before us, so the cracks origination could most certainly be user-initiated.

Some sealing around the edges would take care of your immediate needs, and I'd keep an eye on them to see if things are continuing. If they do, I'd look for expert options. Good luck!

RxGuy - sorry to see your damage. I have a 27FB and also use the ProPride - I started with the 1000# bars and went up to the 1400# bars (I don't believe they make a 1200#?). No such damage for me. A few posters here have suggested stabilizers. Can you explain how you do your process for stabilizing and leveling the trailer? I think that may be more likely as even with 1400# bars and probably 40,000 miles so far - I've got no similar damage.

I have the same issues although maybe not as pronounced. I have a Propride with 1400lb bars.

I think it is a design issue, there is a lot of flex there and that is where the opening is to the door. I will look at it more closely. I have always babied my trailer although it has been all over the US.

Everything is fine. The frame is directly under the areas that are slightly indented. Any flex at all would make this happen. They should have reinforced it rather than put the door where they did, the highest stress is at the least reinforce location. Trailer has ever been dropped or misused...it has been used as intended. Bad design.

Everything is fine. The frame is directly under the areas that are slightly indented. Any flex at all would make this happen. They should have reinforced it rather than put the door where they did, the highest stress is at the least reinforce location. Trailer has ever been dropped or misused...it has been used as intended. Bad design.

And yet no one else with your model/year trailer seems to report the same type of damage. If it really was just bad design, surely you wouldn't be the only one with this problem. Instead, there would have been many others in the past two years to experience the same problem, and there would already be multiple threads here on the AirForums started by other owners with the same problem.

I suggest that you not take offense at suggestions of user error from well-meaning people who are just trying to help, and continue looking for the root cause of the damage. Because if only a single owner out of many is experiencing that problem, user error really is the most likely cause. Unless of course you're happy to just let the damage go as-is and run the risk of making it worse in the months and years to come by continuing to do whatever it was that caused the damage in the first place.